Transthoracie Echocardiography versus Transesophageal Echocardiography Findings in Patients with Ischemic Stroke and Atrial Fibrillation

Approximately 15-20% of all ischemic strokes are caused by embolisms of cardiac origin. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the rnost commonly observed cardiac arrhytnna. If there is only AP the annual incidence of embolisms is less than 0.5%, this increases to 57sk with other coexisting cardiac risk factors, Transesophageal echoc,ardiography (TEE) is 2-10 times more sensitive than transthoracic echocardiography (HE) in detecting the potential origin of emboli. The objective of our study was to determine the incidence rates of coexisting cardiac risk factors in patients with AF and to compare the results of i E and TEE examinations in these situations, We retrospectively reviewed the records of 1100 patients with first time ischemic stroke, who were in follow up in our clinic for a period of 4 years We recruited 43 patients from this group with AF who had both the TTE and the TEE exandnation results which were subjected to x(2) test and Spearman correlation analyses for statistical assessment, In patients with AB detection rate of cardioemboliSM by TEE was statistically superior to TTE, TEE showed an embolism of cardiac origin in 66% (n=10) of patients in whom a cardioembolic etiology had not been detected by TTE. Our aim in this study was to emphasize the importance of TEE examination in view of the future strokes in patients with AP Although AF is associated with low risk of cardieernbolism, the risk is increased with coexisting factors as supported by our study.